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Hey Music City: we love Nashville and all the people in Tenn. Thank you for the great pictures. We sat in those green chairs when we visited in Jan. Your pictures made me smile even tho the news on that region is so very sad. From a New Englander who appreciates the friendly atmosphere of Tenn. and Costa Maya.

I disagree with you 100%...........the people there depended on us to help with their livelihood.............It was the way Mexico used to be...........unspoiled and beautiful(you need to go past the pier area).............I,for one, say bring it back.....and we'll be there!

I agree with you 100%.
I also liked it there very much. I hope it is rebuilt for these people so that the tourists can come back.

There really is no reason to walk away at this point. There is property to be developed in that area. All they need is a airport and it's over. When you rode in the cab to Majahual from the pier area did you notice the 2-lane highway? What do you think that's for? The pier will be rebuilt regardless of the future of Majahual. Maybe sad but true. It's always possible investors will get scared and back out but given its potential as a cruise spot someone will go for it.

So it's had a couple big hurricanes??? One this week and one in the 50's? Big deal, that can happen anywhere in the Caribbean in any given year. The pier will be back and the tourist will return, it just might not be the same as it was. Plus the current land owners will probably be willing to sell now more than before Dean just to avoid the expense and struggle of starting over. I would imagine there are many looking at this as a blessing and not so much as a disaster.

Just my .02

__________________Fred

Previous Cruises

Royal Caribbean:Sovereign Class: Sovereign of the Seas (2x), Monarch of the Seas (2x), Majesty of the SeasVision Class: Enchantment of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas (2x), Rhapsody of the SeasRadiance Class: Jewel of the Seas, Radiance of the SeasVoyager Class: Adventure of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas (2x), Navigator if the Seas, Voyager of the SeasFreedom Class: Freedom of the Seas (2x), Liberty of the SeasOasis Class: Oasis of the Seas (3x), Allure of the Seas (2x)

I just got this email from the folks at Chac Chi and wanted to share it because I know so many of your are concerned about them and have been praying for their safety:

Hi,
As you know hurricane Dean entered on Mahahual the 21th of August. My self and my family would like to thank you for all your prayers and good thoughts for our family, workers and Chac-Chi. We appreciate the time you took to write us to ask about our status. When Dean arrived, Chac-Chi was empty, we all left several days in advance to a safer place and we are all fine.
Dean strike Mahahual with a huge force and the results were not good for us and for most of the inhabitants of Mahahual. Most of the touristic infrastructure was severely damaged, buildings that were not of concrete were almost completely destroyed.
Unfortunately Chac-Chi was strongly damaged, our main structure, a big palapa which holds the restaurant, had lost it's roof and several of or cabañas were also damaged. You can see a picture by Reuters of our place at the following link.http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070822/i...r582010275.jpg
Another bad news was the lost of almost half the Costa Maya pier and they estimate that it will be repair in about 6 to 8 months (http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2162).
We are still evaluating the extensive damage that our place received, and we estimate a long recovery time. We hope to be open around the same time that the cruise ship pier is repaired and will be open as long as you or people as your self are willing to come to our place to have a good time. All changes are for good and life give us new opportunities to improve, we will try to make a better place were you can enjoy and relax on your vacations.
Once again I would like to thank you for all your support this years and we hope to see you again when we are up and running again.
Joaquin R.

Thank you for the post...Hope all comes back quickly. I have never been to your place but from all I've read over the past day and a half....I'll make sure to visit you the next time......What a great attitude yoou have.....T's & P's.....
MrLeo...Could you make sure the posts placed on this thread get back to them .......

__________________"Enjoy life now - It has an expiration date.....

"Cruise Critic" official group cruise group leader...September 18th 2010...Carnival Fantasy out of Charleston, SC. The cruise I met my sweetie on...

Ok, Julie was able to email me again. She's in another town as they have no power. She said Frank and Enrique are ok. I don't know who they are, but apparently well known in town and by tourists. She also sent me photos from today that Frank took..... I will post several here. I am also posting some of Julie's email. But first, let's start with a photo I took of Costa Maya as were leaving on our cruise. I forgot I took until I was looking back through my photos.....

In a message dated 8/22/2007 8:08:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, julie@blueoceansafari.com writes
thank God that Frank and Enrique are ok, attached is what he saw today,and pictures of mahahaul., and our house, sorry, I don't know what to think... or say, as far as where to send stuff, if you would think about sending it to Continental Airlines in Cancun, we are in the midst of setting up a tatastrophy area, to help EVRYONE, not just a few, so please believe me when I say that I and everyone in Mahahual thanks you for anything you can do. we have all lost everything, but we are very greatful to have people care about our little paradise, yes it is a village, and we will grow again, of course if you have any pictures of Mahahual, from before, remember it, now is just rocks and debri everywhere. I'm in mexico now. the only gas station was whiped out, so we need containers to put gasoline in, if you could send 10gls or 5lgs.. anyway we will have a real assestment by tomorrow evening... God Bless.

with the outmost regard

Julie Minter

In a message dated 8/22/2007 8:08:15 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, julie@blueoceansafari.com writes
Praise be to the Lord Jesus for sparing your home. mine was not as fortunate, but we are confident it will get rebuild some day.
I know you won´t mind me sending your email to our friends at cruise critics, they are very interested in helping our community, our little paradise, and there is lots of people who are concerned, I am so humble by all of the outpour of support, we need to come up with a commity to insure that the people of mahahual get assistance, we all needed.

Dan, and Debbie, and Kat, please forward this email to all who are interested in helping, and God Bless you..

Royal Caribbean:Sovereign Class: Sovereign of the Seas (2x), Monarch of the Seas (2x), Majesty of the SeasVision Class: Enchantment of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas (2x), Rhapsody of the SeasRadiance Class: Jewel of the Seas, Radiance of the SeasVoyager Class: Adventure of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas (2x), Navigator if the Seas, Voyager of the SeasFreedom Class: Freedom of the Seas (2x), Liberty of the SeasOasis Class: Oasis of the Seas (3x), Allure of the Seas (2x)

We are still evaluating the extensive damage that our place received, and we estimate a long recovery time. We hope to be open around the same time that the cruise ship pier is repaired and will be open as long as you or people as your self are willing to come to our place to have a good time. All changes are for good and life give us new opportunities to improve, we will try to make a better place were you can enjoy and relax on your vacations.

Once again I would like to thank you for all your support this years and we hope to see you again when we are up and running again.

Joaquin R.

Thank you Starz for this report. What an amazing attitude! I wish them all the best.

Just from a lot of experience on the Grandeur . . . and also knowing that in the winter and springtime that the currents are too rough for ships to even pull into the dock (remember the dent?) - they used to just have a sea day, just like not being able to pull into Cayman.

Seem to remember that the port can only hold maybe 3-4 ships, so redeploying to another port may not be that big of a deal . . . but it is wintertime and that's when A LOT of the ships that are doing Europe/Alaska and other more exotic runs come back to the Caribbean. Remember Cozumel having 13 ships in one time . . totally evil!!!

If someone's got the time . . you can probably go to cruisecal and see who was to be in Costa Maya and figure out where the empty berths are in other ports on the same day

Also thinking that tendering in Costa Maya (like what Cozumel did after their hurricane) would be an issue due to those strong currents . . .